Milty Wekar became one of the Big Apple's biggest bookmakers during his lifetime.

Over the fifty year span he was in the gambling rackets he earned millions. And he kicked up tons of cash for his mafia benefactors as well.

and now...the notorious Milty Wekar!

https://thenewyorkmafia.com/2021/04/14/milton-wekar/

This is just ONE example of my post yesterday in other thread about the 'strength' of Jewish wiseguys back in the day. Wekar was a very well liked and respected guy by Cosa Nostra.

I had an occasion to meet him at the wedding of a wiseguy at a catering hall in Brooklyn back in the 1980s. He was an old man by then and someone we mutually knew introduced me to him at the table.

He sat with wiseguys from two different crews the whole night at the same table.

He was a respected guy.

I will be posting up more top New York City Mafia-affiliated Jewish mobsters over the next week or so to give a more balanced perspective of their true place in the New York underworld at that time.

PS: one more thing. When I met him, I had already heard his name spoken previously. He had a huge reputation as a top bookmaker that proceeded him.

He is an interesting man, I had never heard of him before this.

Interesting figure and an interesting read, thanks.

I'm not too well-versed on this, but I heard that the "Jewish Mob" as an organization died out rather quickly in the USA because Jewish gangsters got shunned in their own community where in Italian, Irish and African American communities gangsters tended to have more of a "following".

I did hear though that there were plenty of lone wolf Jewish criminals that stayed connected to the American Mafia even after the "Jewish Mob" as an organization was gone.
Is this still the case? Are there still individual Jewish gangsters part of wiseguy-led crews as associates?

Jewish organized crime is still around though. The "Israeli mafia" has a wide reach and is nothing to mess with. Israeli organized crime is largely based on large crime families that emigrated from North Africa (mostly Morocco) and the Caucasus (mostly Georgia and Azerbaijan) to Israel. So it's not quite the same as the Jewish-American Mob back in the days.
Also still plenty of Jewish gangsters from Russia and the Ukraine, but they tend to be part of Russian criminal organizations and everybody regards them as "Russian" instead of "Jewish".

Yes Jace. I agree. I never met his brother. I didn't even realize he had one before I started his bio. But I'm told the Wekar brothers were both solid guys.

And as I said Milty himself was very well like by the wiseguys. Several personal friends of mine (good fellas), spoke very well of him and afforded Milty a lot of respect.

I think it had more to do with the fact that after a few generations the Jews integrated more into legit business. For them it was more of a stepping stone. One or two steps to gain wealth and they moved on. Whereas the Italians did the same except that we had an ancient organization that lent itself as a self-perpetuating organism. Cosa Nostra. THAT made all the difference in the world. This was viewed by many more as a 'way of life,' than as just a business per se. If that makes any sense to you.

And to answer your last question. It is a resounding YES. There are still plenty of Jewish hoods who have larceny in their blood and are connected with one Mafia crew or another in NYC. But it's a hit and miss thing. In the year 2021 the 'quality' and dedication of mafia members has even changed drastically. Let alone Jewish associates.

And when they are in the streets, they tend to stay with bookmaking, shylock, and white collar and tax fraud rackets. Not hoodlum stuff. Some I know also dabble heavily in marijuana traffic.

But they are far and few between compared to even 20-30 years ago. My dad had 2-3 Jewish guys around him that were among his best men. One of which was a lifelong partner since they were young guys. A fifty plus year friendship through thick and thin.